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Hooters' most embarrassing moments over 30 years

It was 30 years ago this Friday when the first Hooters restaurant opened in Clearwater, Fla. USA TODAY asked co-founder Ed Droste the company’s top 10 most embarrassing moments: Michael A. Schwarz, USA TODAY

Forming Hooters on April Fool's Day. As an appropriate symbol of management's utter ignorance about how to run a business, Hooters was incorporated as a business on April Fool's Day, April 1, 1983. "We were six clueless knuckleheads who called ourselves the Hooters Six," says Droste. Hooters

Serenading first Hooters Girl. Droste made a bet with his partners that he could hire, as the very first Hooters Girl, the winner of the Jose Cuervo Bikini Contest. He puttered over in a motor boat to where the contest was taking place, jumped out of the boat and swam over to the contest winner (Lynne Austin) "with my business card in a plastic bag." He begged and begged. It took a while – but she finally agreed. Hooters

Learning the ropes. The first day that Hooters opened, Droste had to call a friend who owned a Chicken Unlimited to come over to the restaurant to show the crew how to light the fryers. It gets worse. The restaurant also was stretching the law on its first day of operations. "I paid two fake cops to bust one of my partners because we didn't even have our beer license yet," he says. Hooters

Steering-in traffic. Business was slow at first, so Droste did what any good owner would do: He rented a chicken costume. He then dodged around in local traffic, desperate to steer-in cars. It tripled sales — from two customers to six. Hooters

Going overboard. Droste spotted a partially sunken boat with a bright white hull facing tons of traffic on the main causeway in Clearwater. For a PR stunt, he swam out with some orange spray paint and adorned the entire side of the boat with the word: H-O-O-T-E-R-S. When the local papers all picked up on the stunt, the local marine authority attempted to compel Hooters to pay for the "raising and towing of our boat," recalls Droste. Hooters

Installing a tombstone. There was a long history of restaurants failing at the very location where Hooters opened in Clearwater. Droste and another partner installed a graveyard out front with tombstones that listed all of the previous, failed restaurants. Hooters

Breaking into 'Playboy'. The very first Hooters Girl, Lynne Austin, was named "Miss July 1986" in Playboy Magazine, giving Hooters a national showcase. As a back-handed thank-you for all of the begging that Droste did to get the very first Hooters girl on board, his business partners presented Droste with a very special gift: kneepads. Hooters

Eating crow. When Hooters expanded into Chicago, on what was supposed to be its grand opening party construction was only half completed. That didn't stop the party. Guests were escorted into the half-constructed restaurant by Hooters Girls, adorned in black-tie. It was dubbed the "World's Largest Replica of a Restaurant." Next, guests were escorted across the street to Walter Payton's Restaurant, where Hooters rolled out a big spread under a sign that read: "Don't Even Expect To Get Food Like This In Our Place." Hooters

Marching on Washington. Guys as Hooters girls almost became a reality in 1995. That's when the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission pressured Hooters to hire guys, too. Hooters organized a mock march on Washington, with 100 Hooters Girls carrying banners with slogans like: "100 Angry Women and it's Not PMS." Ultimately, the federal agency backed off and Hooters got a lot of freebie publicity – and a swarm of job applications. Hooters

Proposing in public. As a Hooters founder, it's no surprise that Droste's little black book of Hooters Girl phone numbers became an envy of the industry. That, however, didn't sit so well with Marsha Posey, a top model and former Hooters Girl, who also happened to be his girlfriend. So, under the pretext of presenting a "Manager of the Year Award" — before 2,000 attendees at an annual Hooters Pageant that also was being broadcast live to 400 Hooters restaurants — Droste got down on his knees and proposed. She accepted the proposal – and nixed the black book. Hooters